ON EDGE (Decorah Security) (5 page)

After drinking his fill, he set the cup down and stood up and tested his balance, then walked to the door. Music floated toward him, the sound of a flute and drums. As he brushed the curtain aside and strode into the hallway, he also heard birds chirping. There were rooms along the way. One had a large indoor swimming pool. Another was a library with shelves of books. He walked in and looked at them. Some seemed very ancient. Others were modern novels and textbooks on subjects ranging from English and Russian to history and literature.

He left the library and followed the sounds of the music and the birds, ending up in the sunny courtyard he had seen before he tried to cross the strip of grass. The memory made his stomach clench, and it took a moment before the chirping of the birds brought him back to the present. They were blue, yellow and orange, many with iridescent plumage, eating tropical fruit and seeds scattered on a wooden platform set in the flower beds about three feet from the ground. As he watched, a small furry animal with large eyes poked its head up from the flowers, then reached up a paw to snag a piece of mango before disappearing into the flowers again. He walked into the sunshine, listening to music that was coming from hidden speakers.

In the jungle, he’d kept silent, now he called, “Ariel?”

He saw a flicker of movement on the other side of the courtyard, and looked in that direction. She stood in the shadows, watching him.

His heart leaped when he saw her. She was wearing a garment that looked like an Indian sari, or perhaps a South Sea island sarong, the blue and green silk setting off her pale skin and dark hair. He was no fashion expert, so he wasn't sure what to call it. All he knew was that it set off her pale skin and dark hair perfectly.

oOo

She looked beautiful and delicate, but he knew that the exterior hid an iron will.

“Who are you?” he asked as he took a step toward her.

She didn’t answer, but he knew one thing for sure—that the two of them had met because they were meant to be important to each other.

Quickly he crossed the courtyard, his gaze riveted on her. She quivered as he approached, and he saw the raw nerves shimmering in her eyes.

“How did you come here?” she asked.

“I wanted to, and I did.”

“But how?” she pressed.

“I used a technique I learned.”

Her breath caught. “For crossing the barrier between worlds? Who taught you?”

He gave short laugh. “It was a practice tape for stopping smoking.”

The confusion on her face made him sorry he’d teased her with his answer.

“When I stopped smoking five years ago, I did it partly with self-hypnosis. You learn how to put yourself into a trance, then you go deeper by walking down a flight of stairs. I fixed the idea in my mind that I could come here by diving into a deep lake. And it worked.”

“But you should not have come. You see this is a dangerous place.”

“Apparently.” He swallowed hard. “Could I die here?”

“Yes.”

“Then you must have saved my life.”

She answered with a little nod.

He gestured toward his leg. “How did you make it whole again?”

She raised one shoulder. “I have the power to do that . . . here.”

“How?” he asked again.

She turned her palms up. “I can change the forms of matter.”

An awesome power, he thought. “What about those monsters?”

“They are part of my defense system.”

The matter-of-fact words were like a fist to his gut. “
You
did that to me?”

Her eyes darkened, and she shook her head quickly. “I didn’t mean to. I had no idea that you were coming here—that you
could
come here.”

“But I did.”

“No one has done it before. You walked through the jungle?”

“Yes.”

“Where dangers lurk.”

“And this is a place of safety?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“My house.”

He looked around the courtyard. “And you made it beautiful for yourself.”

“For my pleasure.” She kept her gaze on him. “But you do not belong here.”

“Maybe, but I couldn’t get you out of my mind. I wanted to see you again.” He swallowed. “Hold you. That’s why I had to try.”

Her breath caught, but she repeated, “You should not.”

“You didn’t want to see me?”

Emotions chased themselves across her lovely features. “Yes. I did. As you said, I could not drive you from my thoughts.”

“But you didn’t come back last night.”

“No one needed me last night.”

“That didn’t have to keep you away.”

“I don’t do things simply for my own benefit.”

“Why not?”

“I never have.”

That admission tore at him. Before he could stop himself, he reached for her and pulled her close. Closing his eyes, he held her, stroking his hands up and down her back and plunging his fingers into her thick, dark hair.

If you tried to measure their relationship in the real world, you could say he barely knew her, but this wasn’t the real world. Still, he silently acknowledged that he was taking liberties, again. Only now he didn’t think she was going to vanish.

Holding his breath, he prayed she would not pull away. At first her body was stiff. Then with a sigh, she let herself melt against him.

He breathed in her delicate scent, absorbing the feel of her slender frame and her feminine curves. It felt so good to hold her, after months of feeling alone and unwanted. He knew she was alone, too. Was that why she allowed him to hold her?

The two of them swayed together, and he wondered if she needed him as much as he needed her.

The unspoken invitation made his heart beat faster. And faster still when her hands began to move restlessly across his back, then down to the waistband of his jeans. With her arms around him, she pulled his shirt from the back of his pants, then slipped her hand under, pressing her palm against the naked skin of his back, sliding fingers over his warm flesh, sending shivers over his skin.

He closed his eyes, marveling at the way her touch made him feel hot and cold at the same time. When she tipped her face up, he lowered his head, his lips settling on hers. She opened for him, and he drank in the wonderful taste of her as she continued to cling to him.

He might not have known her long, but he had sensed things about her that he hadn’t been able to put into words. And he wanted to make love with her. More than that, he was sure she wanted him as well.

She looked up and glanced around the courtyard. “Come inside,” she murmured.

He knitted his fingers with hers, and she led him into the house, on the opposite side of the building from where he’d awakened.

They stepped into a bedroom that was beautiful, adorned with patterned cushions, silken hangings and a wide bed on a low platform.

“Is this where you sleep?”

“Yes.”

His gaze came back to her, and he looked his fill. He’d seen women in saris before, and they always had on a blouse under the length of fabric, but her arms and shoulders were bare expect for where one end of the sari was draped over her shoulder. Below the fabric he could see the high, firm shape of her small breasts.

If he pulled the material from her shoulder, he knew he would expose the top of her body. He wanted to do that, yet he was pretty sure that would be going too fast for her.

She might have invited him to her bedroom, yet he saw a mixture of desire and uncertainty on her face.

The need for her pounded fiercely through his body, but he held himself in check as he gathered her in his arms, kissing her face, the curve of her ear, her jawline as his hands stroked up and down her back, under the hanging fabric, then glided around to find the sides of her breasts.

She let her head drop to his shoulder as he touched her, easing the silk away so that he could bring his hands inward, caressing her satin skin, taking her breasts in his hands and skimming his thumbs across the hardened peaks, bringing a gasp to her lips.

“I should do that, too,” she murmured. Her hands were at the front of his tee shirt, rolling it up so that she could slide her hands over his chest, making his breath catch as her fingers tangled in his thick hair, then found his nipples and swept her thumbs across them.

He closed his eyes, enjoying her touch. It seemed like a miracle that she was in his arms.

“You’ll have to show me what to do,” she murmured.

The whispered words got his attention. “What?”

“I have never done this before.”

Chapter Five

His breath caught. “You haven’t made love with a man?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It wasn’t something I wanted.”

“But you want it now?”

“You made me want it.”

When she raised her face, her gaze met his, and it felt as though time had stopped.

She had never been with a man, but she wanted to be with him.

He was dizzy with desire for her, yet her words had given him pause.

As he watched, she pulled the top of the sari off her shoulder, revealing the top half of her body. The other end of the garment was tied at her waist, and she undid the knot, pulling the covering off so that she stood naked before him.

His gaze took in her perfect body. The curve of her hips, her narrow waist, her beautiful breasts, then rose to her face, where he saw doubts flicker.

“Do I not please you?”

“Of course you please me. You’re beautiful.”

“Then why do you not reach for me? I thought you would want to press my body to yours.”

He made a strangled sound and uttered words that surprised him. “Perhaps we are not meant to do this.”

“You do not sense something between us? Something difficult to put into words. Long ago my mother told me that when I met the right man, I would know. I asked
how
I would know. She said only that I would.”

“Oh Lord, Ariel.”

She reached for him. He reached at the same time, pulling her into his arms, holding tight. He had thought that making love to her would be a precious gift. He hadn’t understood how precious.

Desperate to feel her breasts against his chest, he stepped back far enough to yank his shirt over his head and toss it on the floor before gathering her into his arms, a sound of gratitude rising in his throat as he absorbed the feel of her against himself.

It was difficult to draw in a full breath, difficult to keep his balance as he swayed her in his arms so that her breasts moved back and forth against his body.

“Oh,” she cried out as her nipples slid against the roughened hair of his chest.

She made a small sobbing sound, her arms clasping his back.

He fumbled with the button at the top of his jeans, opening it and lowering the zipper so that he could drag the pants down his legs and kick them away. But he left his briefs on.

He reached around her, sliding his hands over the curve of her bottom, her hips, the indentation at her waist, all the places he’d longed to touched. Imagined touching.

He had known he wanted her, but he hadn’t dared to imagine this. It was so much better than any daydream he could have conjured up, and he marveled at the intensity of what he felt now.

He bent to pull the covers back, then brought her down to the bed with him, rolling to his side, holding her in his arms.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“The same things we’ve been doing. Give each other pleasure.”

“What gives you pleasure?” she asked.

“Touching you. Kissing you.”

“And all of that pleases me.”

He cleared his throat, wanting to make sure she understood everything. “Do you know that when a man enters a woman’s body for the first time, it may hurt her?”

He saw her swallow. “No.”

“But if you’re ready for me, the pain will be quick,” he said, wondering if he was telling the truth. He’d never done this precise thing either, but he wasn’t going to test her confidence by admitting that.

His gaze on her face, he cupped her breasts, shaping them to his touch, then playing his thumbs over her distended nipples.

She closed her eyes, her breath catching as he bent to take one hard peak into his mouth, drawing on her as he used his thumb and finger to tug and twist the other side.

His name was a gasp on her lips.

Gratified by her response, he slid one hand slowly down her body, pausing to play with the tight curls at the juncture of her legs before reaching lower, parting her folds, touching her there.

He felt her tense. “All right?”

“Yes.”

She was aroused. Hot and moist for him. He had never needed a woman more, yet he wasn’t going to rush this. Not when he knew this moment was so important—for both of them.